Elijah woke up to a loud buzzer sound ringing on the lawn in front of the dorms, he looked through the blinds on his window to see professor Yates standing on the front lawn holding a glass orb he was speaking into.
"Everyone down to the sports arena in 15 minutes for athleticism testing followed by hand to hand combat training." He turned and stalked off to a small alien vehicle that had two of the Alaxid in it. It lifted off of the ground silently and glided through the air towards the sports dome.
Elijah sprang up and rushed into the bathroom, closing the door by the time he heard his roommate feet hit the floor. He exited the bathroom, fully dressed, and groomed 45 seconds later to Marcus in the hallway, grabbing his crotch and dancing awkwardly
"MOVE I'M GONNA PISS MY UNDIES!" He blurted out as he pushed past him and slammed the door, pushing Elijah out.
Liv was standing at the end of the hall, putting her hair up in a quick, messy bun as he moved to the kitchen. "Want any coffee?" Elijah whipped out a small container of instant coffee and started filling up a mug with hot water.
"For the love of God, yes. I don't even care that it's instant." Elijah went to work making 3 cups of instant coffee. Thrusting one filled with cream and sugar with a splash of coffee into Marcus hands as he came out of the bathroom.
"Cream or sugar?" Elijah bellowed down the hall.
"Just cream!" Echoed back down the hall from the bathroom. He finished making her cup and chugged his down. "Yours is on the counter! I'll meet you guys down at the field." Elijah had his combat boots strapped on and was out the door to their dorm before he could hear an answer back from either.
He sprinted over to the sports dome and stopped abruptly at the front doors where there was a table in the middle of the walkway, making you stop.
"Name and rank." A short Alaxid man was sat behind the table with a stack of papers in front of him.
"Elijah James. A-Rank agility type."
He thumbed through a stack of paper before tossing one up that flew to his chest and adhered itself there. He looked down to it.
Elijah James
A-Rank
Agility
#789
"Report to Professor Resonix for testing. He should be on the field already."
As he walked into the field, he could hear a whole horde of teenagers exiting the dorms and rushing over. He looked back, and the first light of the day was just cresting over the mountains to the east, highlighting the backs of them, so they looked like a zombie horde shambling towards him.
He went over to where his British mentor was sitting in a metal folding chair rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "I should have known you'd be the first one here. Do me a favor, will you, and go fetch me a coffee before the rest of the kids get here. There's a teachers box on the 3rd floor."
Elijah gave him a curt nod and sprinted off "fuckin using me as an errand boy." He mumbled under his breath as he begrudgingly got him the coffee.
As he came back down with a cup of coffee for Resonix, the stadium was beginning to fill up with students, and groups started forming around different teachers about 40 to a teacher. He looked around for liv and Marcus but couldn't see them in the sea of people.
"All right, everyone, welcome to Delta Group, we have all met over the course of the last 9 days. You all know I am Professor Resonix. For the rest of the 89 days, we have left half of your time will be spent in this group, working together to improve yourselves. The other half will be spent with the squad you brought along with you. Today, we will be doing testing. Think of it like the presidential fitness test you had in 8th grade. We will be measuring your physical capabilities. We will be doing this every two weeks to see how quickly you advance. We should be finishing with this around 10 am. In which time, Victor will be leading a hand to hand combat training. That will end at noon." He took a deep breath and a drink of his coffee.
"After noon, you will have two classes taught by High Mentor Tyrene. One is basic chaos theory, and the other is on universal principles. You will have 4 hours off between 3 pm and 7 pm. At 7 p.m., we will meet for an afternoon run around the dome on the brand new track our local Speedster wore into the ground yesterday." He gave a not so subtle look over at Elijah as he said it.
"And speaking of running, we are gonna start our day off with a 1 mile run. Followed by a 100-meter dash and ending with a shuttle run. Everyone move over to the starting line, please."
Elijah moved up to the starting line and began bouncing, turning on Feeling Springy and getting his muscles warmed up for the run. Resonix was fumbling around a stop watch for longer than was reasonable. He finally got it right, and Elijah leaned forward, ready to take off.
"On my mark! 3! 2! 1!" BOOM! A massive concussion boom came from Resonix's mouth like a cannon going off 3 feet from you. Half the kids jumped while the other half began sprinting. Elijah turned on his jets blasting out in front of the pack quickly. He wasn't running like he ran last night around the dome, but he was still leagues faster than the next person. It had barely been 12 seconds, and he was passing the back of the pack as they went into the first turn on the first lap. I almost caught up to the person in the second before finishing, but the small Hispanic girl was just too fast. She had to be an agility type, too.
As the top 10 finished, a little display popped up with the times as they're set.
1-mile run
1. ELIJAH JAMES - 21.683
2. YASMIN PUEBLA - 57.982
3. TYRONE WASHINGTON - 1:49.738
4. JASON WASHINGTON - 1:50.920
5. HECTOR MORALES - 1:59.332
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6. REINA BLACK - 2:11.331
7. JEFFERY JORDAN - 2:13.903
8. RAYMOND TORRES - 2:17.376
9. RON LEVINE - 2:22.677
10. JASPER BLEDSOE - 2:25.029
As Elijah finished, Resonix boomed again. "Stella!" The unassuming brunette girl that met Elijah at the bus yesterday came rushing over. "You're on the 100-meter dash. As they finish up with me, they'll be over to you. Just start the machine, and the cameras will measure their times. Elijah is ready to go, so get it booted up!"
He moved to where Resonix was pointing him, pulling up to the starting line and getting into a sprinters position.
"It's motion activated. You can go when you're ready." Stella told him as he crouched, and she pressed a button on a small control panel on what looked like a metal detector. "Run between the metal poles on each end of the dashing zone for it to capture your time."
Elijah gave a nod and leaned down and got an idea in his head. "What if I just lean forward and activate Feeling Springy and Longstrider at the same time. I could surely just spring straight to the end." And as such, he did. He lowered himself into a sprinters start and pulled up both powers, and immediately felt a power drain. If his chaos energy were held in a bladder, then this is how he would pee. It was just flowing out rapidly. He shot forward so fast that he flew over the finish line without touching the ground.
He tried touching down, but he was moving so fast that the moment his foot scraped the ground, it catapulted him forward, spinning head over foot. He wrapped his arms around his head and was able to activate fearless charge at the last moment as the sense of danger spiked in his mind. He smashed into the wall, 50 meters passed the finish line upside down, and looking backward. All of the air rushed out of his lungs, and his vision went blurry for a few seconds. He slumped to the ground as the extra rigidity of the Earthen Resistance washed away with the ability deactivated. For a moment there, he felt more like the impact compacted him more than injure him. Like he himself was made of earth.
**Minor Principle of Earthen Solidity comprehended!**
As he picked himself off the ground, suprisingly intact, his leader board updated for the latest event he had completed. He groaned as his back hurt and his head pounded but nowhere near as hurt as when he hit the tractor before. He was still struggling to stop when he got to high speeds. He was fine at maneuvering at those speeds, but the moment he tried to slow down quickly, things started going awry. He didn't feel too bad right now. Maybe the answer isn't slowing down but making himself into a wrecking ball.
100 Meter Dash
1. ELIJAH JAMES - 0.828
2. YASMIN PUEBLA 3.571
Yasmin jogged up to him as he picked himself off the ground. "Oh my gosh, are you alright? You took a mighty big spill over there." Okay, that wasn't the accent he was expecting she sounded like she'd never spent a day outside of a Louisiana swamp.
"Yeah, I'm built pretty sturdy." He leaned his head to the side and started brushing his fingers through his hair, clearing the rubble and dust that the cement wall gave to him. The ringing in his ears, however, belied his statement entirely. He took a couple of steps and then wobbled and braced himself arm outstretched against the same wall he just got very well acquainted with. "On second thought, give me a moment to catch my breath. You can go onto the next one before me."
She gave him a concerned look like she didn't believe him. He took a deep breath and looked over at the 2 foot deep crater he'd just put in the wall. Resonix shouted over at him.
"Elijah, if you can't control it, don't use it! We are packed too tightly in here to be recklessly throwing off abilities like that. If you'd hit a C-rank intelligence or appeal type, they would have died immediately!" His voice boomed over the entire field, laced with anger at Elijah's actions. "Get yourself checked out and then get back to the assessment." He said in a slightly less booming voice but still easily audible through most of the field.
He jogged off to the big white medical tent on the edge of the field. On the inside, it was stark white with black accents like the countertop.
An Alaxid behind the counter raised her hand, and the paper flew from his chest into her hand, where she started writing down his information. "Why are you here, Elijah?" She said matter of factly. The way the audio translator came through it made them all seem distant and cold. Their words were always to the point with no regard for the emotions they may cause.
"I ran into a wall really fast, and Professor Resonix told me to come see you before I could keep going." He flinched a little as he shifted his weight to his right leg, and a jolt of pain shot down it like electricity.
"Okay, come back here." She lifted part of the counter so he could walk behind it and shut it behind him. "Step on this white platform, and we will diagnose you. Just stand still with your arms to your side to avoid losing any body parts."
The white platform had a few dozen black circles in the center, making it look like a polka dot pattern. It also had three metal rings that surrounded it. As he stepped on and laid his arms flat against his body, she spoke up again. "Remember arms in." She turned it on, and the rings started flying up and down rapidly. Each one emitted a different color light as they scanned his entire body. The rings fell back down to the ground, and a ding went off like a toaster oven.
[Results]
Minor concussion
Minor internal bleeding.
Minor tinnitus
2 hairline spinal fractures
The machine made a few more noises before a small pedestal rose from the ground. The top opened up, revealing a vial of glittery purple liquid.
"Please drink this, and it will heal all your wounds. After finishing the drink, you'll have about 10 minutes to rest before rejoining the other kids. You can do that in here or go out and watch." He took the vial and drained it back. It almost tasted like a floral sprite. Which was to say unpleasant but not entirely gross.
He went back out and started watching the third and fourth events as Yasmin had already made it through the shuttle event setting the top time. For now, he thought. Resonix walked up to him. "You okay, chap?" He let out much nicer and quieter than the last time he'd spoken to him.
"Yeah, nurse said to give it 10 minutes before launching myself into another wall." Elijah watched as Yasmin was starting her dead lifts. She started with 200lbs but easily lifted it. She was able to get to 525 before tapping out.
Resonix started yelling at another of the students who were planned to be part of a costume department. "What exactly was that, by the way? I've seen your unaltered profile. You don't have any abilities that do that. It was like you got shot out of a gun."
"I tried using two movement abilities at once thinking that 1+1=2. I use them both at the same time and get double the result. I just didn't plan for 1+1 to equal 3." He was replaying everything mentally he felt in the single second he was in the air. "It was like jumping to full sprint speed plus 30 mph over top speed, instantly. I couldn't even keep my feet under me. Is there a secret to using two abilities at the same time?"
"Yeah, the secret is you don't fuckin do it." Resonix had both of his brows furrowed and his big bushy mustache covered his pursed lips. "Most people instantly faint from chaos fatigue if they even sniff at simultaneous dual activation."
"It did make it feel like my soul was peeing energy. For example, if I held it for 10 seconds, I'd probably pass out, but for a single activation, it wasn't too bad. I only have to flash them both on for a quarter second or so." He was already trying to work through how to do it again and keep going afterward.
"They're right about you Supreme Champions, I suppose. You're all mad as hatters." He shook his head and turned to bark another order as he continued setting the gauntlet up, with the long jumps and vertical jumps. Elijah couldn't wait for those in particular.
"That's the second time you've mentioned Supreme Champions. What do you mean by that exactly?" Elijah furrowed his brow.
"There are 6 major God's of the Framework that give us the base of our powers, each one corresponding to one of the major attributes. Each God has Supreme Champions that they lend a portion of their powers, and in return, they do the bidding of that God. These are the strongest champions. There are secondary gods, like the traveler, who also produce supreme champions but can only have one at a time. Now, my turn for a question. Why did the traveler revive you and choose you?" His eyes were intense warning against sarcasm.
Elijah leaned in close and whispered into his ear. "He said there is a threat that will wipe out all existence across all universes. The only future that continues past that threat are ones where I live to fight it." He leaned back and said aloud. "I hope that helps you understand my reluctantly to share before. I didn't realize the apocalypse would be announced 5 hours later."
Resonix seemed to take it in stride, taking a couple of deep breaths before sucking his teeth. "Well. Okay. I guess we save reality, not just humanity. Well, my backup plan of jumping ship to Alaxia Beta is shot, I suppose."
"My turn for a question. What are these minor Earth principles I'm collecting? I've just sorta picked a few of them up." He cheered for one of his classmates who dead lifted 2900 lbs. Jasper, the guy, is built like a double door refrigerator.
He was starting to get offended by how often Resonix looked at him like he was speaking Chinese. "Just sorta picked them up?!" He three his hands up in the air. "How many do you have? No, I lied, I don't want to know. Normal people have to try to get those Elijah." He looked exasperated, running a hand over his mustache he continued. "Like hard, I was given a set of tomes that make the encyclopedia Britannica look like light reading. In those tomes was the guidance to get all of the Universal Principles to become a Sonic Magus. Each Minor Principle took at least one book up to three depending on the complexity of the concept. So the fact that you're just "collecting" them is-" He sighed. "Honestly depressing. It's disgusting how talented you are." He paused for another moment. "Principles are the laws of the universe. When you understand a principle, you can use it freely. I know wind water vibration and even some fire principles, and through applying them to my abilities, I not only improve them but unlock my abilities growth potential much like dual activation adding principles to abilities is like 1 + 1 = 3. As you put it before."
Elijah just stared at him as he ranted. "It's your turn to ask a question." He pointed out after waiting for one to come.
"Which principles do you have and how?" Resonix asked as morbid curiosity washed over him.
"Well, the first one I got was Earthen Resistance. Which I got with the ability from Tod, It's just attached to the ability, though. I'm not sure how to use it outside of that. The second I got last night on the dirt track, that one is erosion. The third one I have access to is Earthen Solidity, I just got this one when I hit the wall at Mach Jesus."
"Jesus christ." Resonix looked defeated.
"Yeah, that's the one." Elijah pointed to Resonix as he said it.